Dharamsala, October 21 – The massive anti-government protests in Tibet’s Rebkong area on Tuesday has spread to other Tibetan areas in Qinghai province. Around 2000 Tibetan students took to the streets in Tsolho on Wednesday in protest against a government decision to replace Tibetan as medium of instruction by Chinese language in Tibetan schools.
Thousands of Tibetan students marched in Tsegorthang in Tsolho “Tibet Autonomous Prefecture” to protest against the government decision to use Chinese language as medium of instruction for subjects like mathematics, history, geography, economics and science, a Tibetan Tibetan exile living in Australia told the Voice of Tibet Radio service.
The protest in Tsegorthang by students lasted for about half an hour. The students from Tsolho school of Tibetan Medicine (not the official English name, translated as interpreted) and Tsolho Tibetan teachers’ training school started shouting slogans in their school campus and later marched into the streets of Tsegorthang carrying banners and placards.
“We want our Tibetan language,” chanted the students as they marched. Students of Tsolho Tibetan teachers’ training school were locked up in the school premises after the protest and denied food for the rest of the day, according to sources in Tibet. No beatings or arrests of any students have thus far been reported.
The GuChuSum Tibetan movement said similar protests by Tibetan students were reported from Mangra, Trika, Xining and Golog.
The ex political prisoners association pledged to show solidarity with the Tibetans in Tibet by holding signature campaigns in various educational institutions in exile. At a press conference here, Dokru Choedak, who heads a group working for preservation of Tibetan language said they will send signed petttions to United Nations Children’s Fund and other international organisations.
School and language are the fabric of national identity, unfortunately the Chinese authorities have reportedly declared schools as “base camp to fight against Dalai Clique and outside separatist forces” said Gu Chu Sum.
Tenzin Tsering in Dharamsala contributed to this report
